ABP operates a strict privacy policy. We are committed to being transparent about how we use cookies on ABP’s sites and the technologies that underpin their collection and usage.

Why cookies are important

Cookies help make your online experience more efficient and relevant to your interests. For instance, they are used to remember your preferences on sites you visit often, to remember your user ID and the contents of your shopping baskets, and to help you navigate between pages more efficiently.

Please read below for more detail.

What is a cookie?

A cookie is a small file, or files on your computer, phone, or other device with a browser to save snippets of text for reference by the website you are visiting.

All cookies have expiration dates in them that determine how long they stay in your browser.

Session cookies

These are temporary cookies that expire (and are automatically erased) whenever you close your browser. For example, we use session cookies to grant access to content and enable commenting (things you have to log in to do).

Persistent cookies

These usually have an expiration date and so stay in your browser until they expire, or until you manually delete them. For example we use persistent cookies for functionality including the "Stay logged-in" tick box. We also use persistent cookies to better understand usage patterns so that we can improve the site for our customers.

We've included more details below to help you understand what kinds of cookies and other technologies we use.

Other technologies linked to cookies

There are other technologies which can seem similar to cookies, but are not the same, including pixels and site tags. These pixels or tags can be used to retrieve information such as your device type or operating system, IP address, time of visit, etc. (Please see our Privacy Policy for more details on the types of information that may be collected.) They are sometimes used to create or access the cookies on your browser, but are not cookies themselves. Only cookies which you can control will appear in the cookie consent tool.

What types of cookies do ABP’s sites use and why?

Categories of Use

Description

Authentication

If you’re logged in to ABP, cookies help us show you the right information and personalize your experience.

Security

We use cookies to enable and support our security features, and to help us detect malicious activity and violations of our User Agreement.

Preferences, features and services

Cookies can tell us which language you prefer and what your communications preferences are. They can help you fill out forms on ABP more easily. They also provide you with features, insights, and customized content in conjunction with our plugins. You can learn more about plugins in our Privacy Policy.

Advertising

We may use cookies to show you relevant advertising both on and off the ABP. We may also use a cookie to learn whether someone who saw an ad later visited and took an action (e.g. downloaded a white paper or made a purchase) on the advertiser’s site. Similarly, our partners may use a cookie to determine whether we’ve shown an ad and how it performed, or provide us with information about how you interact with ads. We may also work with a partner to show you an ad on or off ABP, such as after you’ve visited a partner’s site or application.

Performance, Analytics and Research

Cookies help us learn how well our site and plugins perform in different locations. We also use cookies to understand, improve, and research products, features, and services, including when you access ABP from other websites, applications, or devices such as your work computer or your mobile device.

To ensure compliance with our policies, we restrict the use of third-party cookies to trusted partners of ABP. For example, we currently allow partners including:

We also use third party information from third party sources to enable us to deliver advertising. Establishing a particular audience demographic allows us to target advertising based on browsing behaviour stored in a cookie.

These sources are validated by the third party, not by us. Our advertising partners use cookies accompanying the adverts to enable them and their advertisers to monitor the effectiveness of their ads.

We may also use cookies and your IP address to discover general information about which pages on our sites you visit and the country, city or region in which you are located. We sometimes combine this with information provided to us by third parties, together this information enables you to be grouped with other people with similar interests and places you in a market segment, such as "technology", "Android Phone", or . We may then display advertisements which we believe people in your market segment will find relevant. We believe this makes the advertising more interesting and useful to you, and also helps us increase the value we get out of the site from our advertisers, and therefore ultimately gives us a greater ability to invest in great content for the benefit of all users.

We may also allow advertisers to use their own marketing data to target advertising campaigns on this website and as a result you may see advertising based upon website content you have been viewing on another website. For example, a retailer might use information about the products you browsed on their website in order to tailor their advert to you on this website. This information is not shared with us and we do not share information with the advertiser about your browsing of our website.

Below you'll find information and a link to our cookie consent tool to help you manage your cookie preferences.

How can I delete or opt-out of cookies?

You can opt out of cookies at any time by using our cookie consent tool.

This tool includes additional detail on the types of cookies used, what information is being collected and for what purpose. It also includes links to the privacy policies for each individual cookie, giving you the option to allow or block as you choose. When you refer to any one of these privacy policies you’ll find more information on the controls available to you, and your rights with respect to the personal information that these third parties access, collect and use about you.

Please note that we are not responsible for the content of other external websites. Your cookie consent preferences are accessible at any time at the bottom of all ABP website pages.

Alternatively, the following websites provide some useful information on how to do this, as well as about your rights under current data protection and privacy regulations.

You can still browse our sites with cookies disabled, although some functions may not work. For example, ticking the “Stay logged-in” box at log-in will not actually keep you logged in to the site unless you have enabled cookies. If you choose not to allow cookies when you first visit our websites and/or subsequently opt out of cookies, then because of the fact we’re unable to recognise you when you come back to the site, you’ll be asked again to set your cookie preferences.

How long will cookies last for?

We limit the lifetime of our cookies to a maximum of 13 months as required by law and so you will be asked about your cookie preferences again no later than 13 months since the last time we asked you. If you do allow cookies, then you consent to the use of cookies as described in this policy.

If I disable cookies will I still see advertisements?

Yes, but these will no longer be specific to you, your personal interests or browsing behaviours. You can consent to some or all cookies at any time (even if you have previously said no to cookies) by going to our cookie consent tool.

How do I manage my cookie preferences?

You can manage your cookie preferences and consent to some or all cookies at any time (even if you have previously said no) by going to our cookie consent tool.

Changes to this Policy

From time to time, we may make changes to the privacy policy and this cookie policy. This may be in relation to changes in the law, best practice or changes in our services. These changes will be reflected in this statement, so you should check here from time to time.